A National Day of Silence

The officers of the senior class made an appointment
to see me.Their class wanted to
take part in the National Day of Silence, an observance for gays, lesbians,
bisexuals, and transgender individuals “to heighten the awareness of persons
being silenced about homosexual or transgender issues through political or
social means, or even death.”The
observation is sponsored by LGBTA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered
Alliance) and students take part by remaining silent and not talking to anyone
verbally or in writing for the entire day.

The students and I sat in my office and talked
through their proposal.Participation was voluntary, they said, but they had met with their class
and nearly everyone wanted to participate.They showed me a sample of the t-shirt they would wear, and
it did not violate the school’s dress code.I expressed my concern that silence during classes would not
be conducive to education.They
thought about that and then came back with another proposal:They would remain silent only during
their lunch period.

I was impressed.The students were concerned, sincere, and committed enough
to give up their own social time to make a point.I gave my permission and my support.

And that’s when the community rose up.

By the time I got to school the next morning, I had a
stack of calls from parents.Led
by the ladies of the Parents’ Association, they were definitely not happy and
had plenty to say about my “encouraging those kinds of beliefs.”The rumor mill was churning, and 30
minutes of silence at lunch soon morphed into a K-12 gay pride parade around
the school and down Main Street.The local newspaper called as well as television stations, and
thankfully all decided to downplay the incident.One parent, whom I had respected up to this point said, “If
not supporting this makes me a bigot, then I’m a bigot and proud of it!”Well.

The Parents’ Association ladies came in and told me
that I was not to let students be silent during lunch.I told them I doubted that I could make
them talk if they didn’t want to, half expecting one of them to say, like in an
old Harvey Korman sketch, “Ve haf vays to make zem talk!”

At this point, I decided I would not back down unless
the Board of Education ordered me to.I simply could not rescind my approval to the seniors’ very reasonable,
even admirable request.

After a few days of turmoil, the seniors made another
appointment to see me.They had
decided to abandon their idea.It
was now causing problems for students whose parents had forbidden them to
participate.It had become
divisive issue for their class.So
they decided it was best at the moment to let it drop.They thanked me for my support.

As they left my office, the class president turned
back.“We just want you to know,
Ms. T,” she said, “that the irony of this situation is not lost on us.”